You are correct an Etched recital will give you the least amount of distortion. This is largely because the light is being projected away from your eye rather than toward it. Holosun has a reputation of having better glass when it comes to distortion and astigmatism. Green is normally better for most people than Red. And turning the brightness down for me always helps to decrease the flares.
I recently had cataract surgery which helped with my astigmatism. It didn't fix it completely but it did help. Now I have to take my reading glasses off to not get the light flares.